Upper School English Elective: Experiments with Collaboration Karen Gallagher, Spring 2010 After reading Tony Wagner’s Global Achievement Gap and the National Council of Teachers of English statement on 21st Century Literacies this summer, I shared the following document with Academic Department Chairs, as a guide to our thinking about the students we are working with and the challenge to develop an evolving curriculum. 21st Century students must be able to:
Think critically, analyzing information from multiple sources simultaneously
Solve complex, open-ended problems
Collaborate with teams of people from across cultural, geographic and language boundaries
Forge relationships
Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability
Create solutions
Make ethical judgments and reactive with a sense of responsibility and care
Communicate effectively, spontaneously, orally, in writing, and in new technological modes
Karen Gallagher, Director of Studies,Academic Committee, August 31, 2009 I had no idea in August that my journey as a member of PLP would profoundly shift my classroom approach over the course of the year. The problem: A program which emphasized independence and isolation in research and writing The paradigm shift: A course which required collaboration, both in research, writing, and presentations
The process: Design a course which valued group research and required collaborative products (Wiki pages, Google Documents, Google Presentations, Group designed Posters) Intentional group review of approaches and tools on a regular basis as part of the course
The challenges: Creating a collaborative climate Assessing group work Managing new, unfamiliar tools (learning as we went along)
The obstacles: Something entirely untested in a classroom setting in the English department
The opportunities: Creating a flat classroom—all of us as learners Wisdom from every corner of the room Learning a new approach together
Learning experimentally:Our Class Moodle Page, a new initiative for me as a teacher, served as a first tool to help us experiment with collaborative WIKI pages and collaborative Google documents. We have just begun to scratch the surface.
The path for future development: Create teams of students and faculty who can support and train others in the approaches we have found successful. One option is to create Teachers Learning Circles (TLC) run by a team of students …throughout next year (biweekly?); another is to create teams of students to support 9th grade Peace & Justice and Health classes as they develop research skills and generate presentations.
Assessment: At the end of the course this spring, I hope students will present recommendations for essential collaborative tools for faculty review. Over 75 % of 11th and 12th grade students participate in the History Department NING forums. Developing a way for those students to assess the new opportunities that NING offers, as well as my English students assessing the experience of collaboration as a formal course requirement will be essential if our approach to learning is to shift.
Karen Gallagher, Spring 2010
After reading Tony Wagner’s Global Achievement Gap and the National Council of Teachers of English statement on 21st Century Literacies this summer, I shared the following document with Academic Department Chairs, as a guide to our thinking about the students we are working with and the challenge to develop an evolving curriculum.
21st Century students must be able to:
- Think critically, analyzing information from multiple sources simultaneously
- Solve complex, open-ended problems
- Collaborate with teams of people from across cultural, geographic and language boundaries
- Forge relationships
- Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability
- Create solutions
- Make ethical judgments and reactive with a sense of responsibility and care
- Communicate effectively, spontaneously, orally, in writing, and in new technological modes
Karen Gallagher, Director of Studies, Academic Committee, August 31, 2009I had no idea in August that my journey as a member of PLP would profoundly shift my classroom approach over the course of the year.
The problem: A program which emphasized independence and isolation in research and writing
The paradigm shift: A course which required collaboration, both in research, writing, and
presentations
The process: Design a course which valued group research and required collaborative products
(Wiki pages, Google Documents, Google Presentations, Group designed Posters)
Intentional group review of approaches and tools on a regular basis as part of the
course
The challenges: Creating a collaborative climate
Assessing group work
Managing new, unfamiliar tools (learning as we went along)
The obstacles: Something entirely untested in a classroom setting in the English department
The opportunities: Creating a flat classroom—all of us as learners
Wisdom from every corner of the room
Learning a new approach together
Learning experimentally: Our Class Moodle Page, a new initiative for me as a teacher, served as a first tool to help us experiment with collaborative WIKI pages and collaborative Google documents. We have just begun to scratch the surface.
The path for future development:
Create teams of students and faculty who can support and train others in the approaches
we have found successful. One option is to create Teachers Learning Circles
(TLC) run by a team of students …throughout next year (biweekly?); another is to create
teams of students to support 9th grade Peace & Justice and Health classes as they
develop research skills and generate presentations.
Assessment: At the end of the course this spring, I hope students will present recommendations for essential collaborative tools for faculty review. Over 75 % of 11th and 12th grade students participate in the History Department NING forums. Developing a way for those students to assess the new opportunities that NING offers, as well as my English students assessing the experience of collaboration as a formal course requirement will be essential if our approach to learning is to shift.